Notice: This entry was published 5 years ago and may no longer reflect my views today.

I haven’t been very active lately because this is now my life:

Harvest Moon: Back to Nature is one of my favorite childhood games. One of my favorite games, period. I love simulation games (The Sims 2 is my other obsession), and I especially love HM:BTN because underneath the cute graphics are characters with actual backstories. If there’s anything that can hook me into a game, it’s character development and this game has a lot of it. I never noticed when I played it as a kid, but now I’m blown away at how much storyline they placed beyond the main quest. Well, it is a role-playing game!

I’m especially invested this time around because I can finally play the Girl version! Back then, it wasn’t released in English so I had to play as a boy which was totally cool by me. My farm was glorious by the third year. My barn and henhouse were fully upgraded, I had a wife and son, and I was rolling in gold. I wish I could play that save again. My Playsation’s been shot since then and I have no idea where my memory card is. No worries though because I’m playing again and this time, I can romantically pursue the bachelors as a girl which. is. awesome. If you don’t play games, then you have no idea how important video game romances are. /loser

Karen, my wife from another life

I won’t spoil the story for those who haven’t played, although if you follow my Tumblr, I probably have already (oops~). I’ve been posting a handful of screenshots there. I generally like to participate in fandom activities even if it is sporadic. I mostly contribute screenshots and the occasional fanfic, and sometimes I’ll share my embarrassingly detailed headcanons. I’ve never been a big name fan though because my obsessions shift a lot. It’s Harvest Moon now, but who knows what it’ll be next season (hint)!

There’s also Harvest Moon: More Friends of Mineral Town which has the same premise and characters as BTN. I’ve never played it myself, but I’ve seen playthrough videos on Youtube. I still think BTN is better because the interactions with the townspeople seems to have more heart. I’m very biased obviously.

Manna talking about her daughter, Aja. She’s a significant character despite never making an appearance.

If you guys ever want to try the Harvest Moon franchise, I definitely recommend Back to Nature as a start! You can play it on a PSP emulator on your computer (PPSSPP is a good one). If you do give it a shot, I’d love to know what you think!

Comments

Simulation games are awesome! I like it when the game gives you more to do after the main storyline is over. It makes the game worth playing after you beat it since there are things to do with your developed character rather than being at a dead end and having to move on to a different game. Hopefully you’re having as much fun (or more) playing as a girl this time!

I didn’t know there’s a PSP emulator for the desktop now! Back when I tried out handheld game emulators, there was no$gba and some basic one for the DS that I didn’t like. I have seen a few bloggers giving positive feedback about this game sooo if I have plenty of time to spare, this can go into my “to-play” list :P.

I love simulation games but my gadgets don’t have enough memory for them and I myself don’t have time. I’ve heard of Harvest Moon. The boys in my year played it and they got quite addicted to it for some time. I do play The Sims though, and my other obsessions are the Pokemon games. LmaoJea recently posted…Throwback: In South Korea